At tomorrow’s hearing, the Subcommittee will examine the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) work with laboratories to support homeland security R&D. The hearing will give Members the opportunity to ensure funding for R&D is being used efficiently for innovative solutions for the mission of homeland security.

Lungren said:“Our hearing tomorrow will examine the extent to which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is optimally leveraging the extensive national laboratory infrastructure to support homeland security research and development needs. The Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate’s number one stated goal is to ‘deliver knowledge, analyses and innovative solutions that advance the mission of the Department.’ To help determine ways in which the DHS and Department of Energy laboratories are being utilized for this purpose, we will examine such questions as: Is the S&T Office of National Laboratories meeting its statutory intent as a cross-DHS coordinator for laboratory work? What process does DHS implement for prioritizing work to the national labs? Are the costs reasonable, and are there cost savings to be found? Is the existing laboratory capacity sufficient to meet the need, or is more building justified? Such oversight will allow increased insight into how S&T can work more efficiently under budget constraints to support the homeland security mission.”